Abstract: Abstract
Previous research suggests that a combination of high need for power, low need for affiliation, and high activity inhibition—the so-called leadership motive pattern—is related to high leader effectiveness. However, when studying this relation, research has mainly relied on a typological approach based on dichotomous configurations of motives instead of using a dimensional approach via regression analysis with interaction terms. Applying the latter approach, we explored separate and interactive effects of need for power, need for affiliation, and activity inhibition on managerial performance. We administered picture story exercises to 70 managers, and found the three-way interaction between predictors to account for increases in income and team goal attainment. Follow-up analyses indicated that managers are most successful when they are high in all three predictors.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
Studies that have investigated the effect of motivation to change on the startle reflex have been limited to comparisons among smokers with low and high motivation, but differences in the startle reflex throughout all stages of change have not been studied. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify differences in the startle reflex in response to tobacco-related cues in smokers in the initial, intermediate, and final stages of change. The startle reflex was recorded in 67 smokers and ex-smokers while they viewed pleasant, neutral, unpleasant, and tobacco-related pictures. The results showed that the pattern of the startle reflex in response to tobacco-related pictures varied according to the motivation to change. In smokers in the initial stages, the magnitude of the startle reflex was similar between tobacco-related pictures and pleasant pictures. In smokers in intermediate stages, the magnitude of the startle reflex was similar between tobacco-related pictures and unpleasant pictures. In ex-smokers in the final stages, the magnitude of the startle reflex was similar between tobacco-related pictures and neutral pictures. These results suggest that motivational systems that are activated by tobacco-related cues vary according to smokers’ motivation to change.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
People differ in how open-ended or limited they perceive their future. We argue that individual differences in future time perspective affect the activation of implicit motives. Perceiving the time remaining for the satisfaction of one’s motives as limited should be associated with a higher activation of these motives than perceiving one’s future as more open-ended. Given that future time perspective decreases across adulthood, older adults should score higher on implicit motives than younger adults. This hypothesis was supported in a study with young (n = 53, age M = 25.60 years) and older adults (n = 55, age M = 68.05 years). Additionally, an experimental manipulation of future time perspective showed that age-related differences in implicit motives are influenced by future time perspective. These findings demonstrate that future time perspective is an important factor to explain the strength of motives.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
The influence of motivated behaviors linked to achievement goal pursuit on age-related differences in working memory (WM) has not been extensively investigated. In this study, younger and older participants completed a classical 2-back working memory task that included different types of goal-relevant stimuli. In particular, in Experiment 1 we used euro banknotes as stimuli, whereas in Experiment 2 we used Neapolitan playing cards. In Experiment 3, we directly compared working memory performance for euros and Neapolitan playing cards. We chose stimuli to induce different motivated behaviors linked to the pursuit of achievement goals (e.g., mastery, self-referential vs. performance, normative-based) and to examine their effects on working memory performance. Results showed how older adults were able to recognize target stimuli as well as younger adults when stimuli were goal-relevant. However, Neapolitan playing cards produced a greater number of errors, especially in the older adults. Finally, in Experiment 4, the same pattern of results occurred when motivated behavior was promoted using a dispositional induction technique. Our results show that motivated behaviors evoked by qualitatively diverse achievement goals can modulate WM performance in aging.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
In the light of an aging workforce, age differences in workers’ motives are important guidelines for an age-differentiated human resource management. Whereas research has addressed age differences in explicit work values or motives, age differences in implicit motives and in the congruency between implicit and explicit motives (i-e-congruency) have been neglected so far. In two studies (N = 201 and 751), we investigated chronological age as a moderator of the relationship between i-e-congruency and job satisfaction. In general, we expected that high i-e-congruency is positively related to job satisfaction. Moreover, life-experience and a change in future-work time-perspective should lead to higher i-e-congruency for older than for younger workers. Finally, we hypothesized that the relationship between i-e-congruency and job satisfaction is moderated by workers’ age such that i-e-congruency is more strongly related to job satisfaction for older than for younger workers. Results supported our hypotheses in the affiliation motive domain. Implications for workers’ careers and an age differentiated human resource management are discussed.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
A relative in-group advantage for recognizing emotional facial expressions presented at full intensity has been documented. The present study examined whether this in-group advantage also existed for the recognition of subdued expressions. American and Chinese participants judged Caucasian and Chinese angry, sad, and happy expressions at subtle, low, and moderate intensity levels. An in-group advantage was found at the low and moderate intensity levels for angry expressions (the effect was partial at moderate intensity), and at the moderate intensity level for sad expressions. But at milder expression intensities, the in-group advantage disappeared, replaced by a main cultural effect in recognition accuracy. American judges were more accurate than Chinese judges in judging both Caucasian and Chinese expressions at the subtle intensity level for angry expressions and at both the subtle and low intensity levels for sad expressions. The present findings suggest that the in-group advantage resides in recognizing expressions of mid-range intensities but diminishes in recognizing milder expressions, and when the in-group advantage stops, cultural differences in sensitivity to very subtle expressions come to fore, at least for negative emotions involving potential threats to social harmony. The present findings suggest that Americans may be better able to detect very subtle facial expressions of sadness and anger, which may have implications for our understanding of cross-cultural differences in emotion.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
Perceiving another in need may provoke two possible emotional responses: empathic concern and personal distress. This research aims to test whether different emotion regulation strategies (i.e., reappraisal and rumination) may lead to different vicarious emotional responses (i.e., empathic concern and personal distress). In this sense, we hypothesized that reappraisal may lead to a greater feeling of empathic concern, whereas rumination may lead to a higher feeling of personal distress. To test the hypotheses we used experimental instructions (Study 1) and a priming procedure (Study 2) to manipulate the emotion regulation strategies. The results supported our hypotheses. Furthermore in the rumination condition the emotional experience was described as being more negative and more highly arousing than in the reappraisal condition. We discuss the effect of these two forms of cognitive emotion regulation on empathic concern and personal distress.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
Core disgust is a common but hushed up stressor in nursing. We seek to change this problematic situation by examining several antecedents (e.g., emotional self-efficacy, job autonomy) and consequences of core disgust (e.g., emotional exhaustion, intention to leave) based on affective events theory. Furthermore, we investigate the moderating role of organizational identification in the relation between inauthenticity and intention to leave, proposing that high identification buffers negative effects. Data were collected from 423 geriatric nurses working in 50 care institutions. Multi-level structural equation model was applied and indicated a good data fit of our model. Emotional self-efficacy and job autonomy were negatively associated with core disgust; core disgust was positively related to inauthenticity and emotional exhaustion. Indirect effects were identified for core disgust on intention to leave, mediated by inauthenticity and emotional exhaustion. Finally, organizational identification was a significant moderator. Thus, an appropriate coping with core disgust is important for (geriatric) nurses’ health and should deserve more attention in research on turnover.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
The present study investigated whether satisfaction and frustration of the psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, as identified within Basic Psychological Need Theory (BPNT; Deci and Ryan, Psychol Inquiry 11:227–268, 2000; Ryan and Deci, Psychol Inquiry 11:319–338, 2000), contributes to participants’ well-being and ill-being, regardless of their cultural background and interpersonal differences in need strength, as indexed by either need valuation (i.e., the stated importance of the need to the person) or need desire (i.e., the desire to get a need met). In Study 1, involving late adolescents from Belgium and China (total N = 685; Mean age = 17 years), autonomy and competence satisfaction had unique associations with well-being and individual differences in need valuation did not moderate these associations. Study 2 involved participants from four culturally diverse nations (Belgium, China, USA, and Peru; total N = 1,051; Mean age = 20 years). Results provided evidence for the measurement equivalence of an adapted scale tapping into both need satisfaction and need frustration. Satisfaction of each of the three needs was found to contribute uniquely to the prediction of well-being, whereas frustration of each of the three needs contributed uniquely to the prediction of ill-being. Consistent with Study 1, the effects of need satisfaction and need frustration were found to be equivalent across the four countries and were not moderated by individual differences in the desire for need satisfaction. These findings underscore BPNT’s universality claim, which states that the satisfaction of basic needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence represent essential nutrients for optimal functioning across cultures and across individual differences in need strength.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
Four studies examined how in-group identification in the domain of sports is associated with schadenfreude in reaction to another group’s suffering or gluckschmerz in reaction to another group’s good fortune. Schadenfreude increased as a function of in-group identification when the outgroup was a rival team rather than a non-rival team in Study 1. Study 2 showed that those who experience schadenfreude at learning of an outgroup player’s injury will also tend to feel gluckschmerz when they learn of the player’s recovery. Studies 3 and 4 replicated and extended these findings for both schadenfreude and gluckschmerz, and showed that neither the degree of severity of an injury nor the level of physical pain associated with the injury moderated the link between identification and both schadenfreude and gluckschmerz. Mediation analyses indicated that perceived in-group gain or loss, deservedness, and dislike were prime mediators of links between in-group identification and both emotions.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
Studies have found that memory for the affective dimensions of valence and arousal are lateralized in left and right hemispheric systems, yet much heterogeneity has been demonstrated across studies. We explored possible reasons for this heterogeneity by assessing the lateralization of the affective dimensions of valence and dominance and correlations with behavioral inhibition and activation sensitivities (BIS/BAS). Seventy-one females viewed words differing in valence and dominance presented to each hemisphere, completed immediate recall and recognition tests, and the BIS/BAS scales. We found evidence of both valence- and dominance-based patterns of memory lateralization, with relatively more evidence for valence-based patterns. Our analyses also revealed that BIS sensitivity was associated with a valence-based pattern of recall lateralization. Our findings reveal the utility of dominance and BIS sensitivity in accounting for heterogeneity in findings in the literature on affective memory lateralization, highlight potential processes underlying affective memory biases, and can inform models of the hemispheric lateralization of emotion in the context of memory.PubDate: 2015-04-01

Abstract: Abstract
The current study used a prospective design and the assessment of personal goals to examine the relation of self-critical and personal standards perfectionism to affective variation across days of the week. University students completed baseline measures of perfectionism and subsequently reported their nightly affect for seven consecutive days. Participants also listed four important personal goals for the academic year and rated their autonomous and controlled motivation for these goals. The expected pattern of affect variation across the week was obtained—highest positive affect on Saturday followed by a drop on Monday which continued through Thursday. The two forms of perfectionism were significantly related to daily affect on Monday, but in opposite ways, and these opposing patterns were mediated by differences in motivation for academic goals. Self-critical perfectionists felt highly controlled about their academic goals and responded negatively to the resumption of school on Monday. Personal standard perfectionists felt highly autonomous about their academic goals and responded positively to the return to school on Monday. The two forms of perfectionism were unrelated to affect experienced on Saturdays. The study suggests that personality and motivational factors can be used to understand affect variation from the weekend to the start of the week.PubDate: 2015-03-11

Abstract: Abstract
Theoretical work has proposed an inhibitory effect of disgust on sexual arousal, but this effect has yet to be examined experimentally. In order to experimentally examine the effect of disgust on sexual arousal, a sample of 306 adults recruited from two southwestern universities was randomly assigned to one of two conditions. Participants in the experimental condition viewed disgust priming images and subsequently viewed sexually explicit images. Participants in the control condition viewed neutral primes and sexually explicit images. In both conditions, participants were asked to provide ratings of sexual arousal, and were timed for the length of time they viewed the sexual images. Participants also completed the Three Domain Disgust Scale and a demographic questionnaire. Two hierarchical linear models—one per each dependent variable—were conducted with image observations nested within individuals. Sexual arousal was lower in the disgust condition compared to the neutral condition, and lower for women compared to men. With additional pairings of disgust and sexual stimuli, the effect of disgust on sexual arousal became larger for women and smaller for men. Data support the inhibitory effect of disgust on sexual arousal.PubDate: 2015-03-10

Abstract: Abstract
In two studies, we examined the influence of behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and need for closure (NFC) on information processing in decision making. We expected that BIS would regulate behavior in a decisional context and that this relationship would be mediated by epistemic motivation expressed by NFC. In addition, drawing on contradictory findings in the literature on anxiety, NFC, and information processing, we investigated the moderating role of decision rules. The results supported our predictions. BIS was strongly and positively related to NFC, and through NFC it was related to decision-making style. Moreover, decision task characteristics moderated the relationship between NFC and decision making. When a task did not offer a confident decision rule, high NFC participants prolonged the information search more than low NFC individuals. However, when a reliable strategy was suggested, high NFC participants behaved in line with it. These results are discussed within an uncertainty management framework.PubDate: 2015-03-10

Abstract: Abstract
When organizations are engaging in publicly visible misbehavior, organizational members’ emotional responses may affect the organization’s ability to react effectively. If members respond with shame, they have a high tendency to distance themselves from the organization, a phenomenon termed cutting off reflected failure. Further, for those who identify more closely with the organization at the time of the misbehavior, this effect is stronger. We report two studies that tested the above predictions—a field study of a real industry-wide crisis in Taiwan’s fast-food industry and a university accounting scandal. We found that shame responses enhanced intentions to distance from the organization, and that organizational identification boosted the shame response.PubDate: 2015-03-10

Abstract: Abstract
The present work investigated the interpersonal functions of facial mimicry after social exclusion. Specifically, we examined two distinct functions that facial mimicry may serve in promoting reconnection: facilitating the understanding of others’ emotions and/or fostering interpersonal rapport. Using a novel facial mimicry paradigm, we found that although people exhibited both greater facial mimicry (Studies 1 and 2) and superior emotion-decoding accuracy (Study 2) after exclusion, facial mimicry did not mediate the relationship between exclusion and decoding accuracy (Study 2). Instead, we found support for facial mimicry serving to promote interpersonal rapport. Specifically, in Study 3, naïve judges rated videos of target-participant pairs from Study 1 for social closeness. Findings indicated that pairs with a previously-excluded participant were rated as socially closer than pairs with a previously-included participant (Study 3). Importantly, enhanced facial mimicry was found to mediate the relationship between exclusion and rated closeness. Altogether these findings suggest that facial mimicry may promote reconnection after social exclusion by fostering rapport.PubDate: 2015-03-10

Abstract: Abstract
We investigated the effects of adaptive and maladaptive forms of self-focus—specifically, self-reflection and self-rumination—on the relationship between depressed mood and everyday problem-solving behavior. Although previous research has consistently suggested that self-rumination disturbs problem solving and self-regulatory processes, thereby aggravating depressive symptoms, the association between self-reflection, problem solving, and its emotional consequences has not been demonstrated. Therefore, we assessed whether self-reflection can facilitate the emotion regulation function of problem solving through a daily diary method. Thirty-nine Japanese undergraduate and graduate students recorded daily depressed mood, the most stressful problem encountered each day, and whether they utilized problem-solving behaviors for seven consecutive days. Multilevel model analyses showed that individuals with higher levels of self-reflection reported lower depressed moods after enacting problem-solving behaviors, even if the problem that they had on that day was highly stressful. These results suggest that self-reflection enhances the mood regulation function of everyday problem-solving behavior, and may contribute to mental well-being and resilience to stress.PubDate: 2015-03-10

Abstract: Abstract
A study is reported on the effects of task load and task motivation on the relationship between effort and fatigue in a demanding life-support simulation, aimed to test the hypothesis that effort, rather than demands, was the direct cause of fatigue in task performance. This was done by independently manipulating two factors that affect effort: task load and task motivation. A total of 28 participants were tested in a mixed 3 × 2 factorial design; task load (within-Ss) was varied in terms of the number of manual control systems (1, 3 or 5) that needed to be managed during a 100 min session, while task motivation (between-Ss) was defined by instructions (standard vs. enhanced) designed to influence the level of voluntary commitment to task goals. Effort and fatigue were measured by self report, as were perceived demands and anxiety (included as manipulation checks). While both task load and task motivation led to an increase in effort, there was a stronger fatigue response to task load under enhanced task motivation. As predicted, while both perceived demands and anxiety increased with task load, they were not affected by task motivation. An independent assessment of after-effects of fatigue on a fault finding task showed an increased use of low effort strategies under enhanced task motivation. The findings support the hypothesized effort → fatigue linkage. During task performance, fatigue is a consequence not of task demands per se, but of the level of commitment of effort in meeting demands.PubDate: 2015-03-10

Abstract: Abstract
Facial expressions of emotion (FEEs) have been portrayed as potent (dis-) incentives for power-motivated perceivers, because they signal the strength of a sender’s dominance (Stanton et al. in Implicit motives. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 245–278, 2010). Here, we tested the hypothesis that individuals with a high implicit power motive (nPower), who have a disposition to seek (emotional) impact on others, would be faster at recognizing FEEs than individuals low in nPower. In a task employing videos of morphed FEEs, which are gradually changing from neutral to either anger, joy or surprise, higher nPower predicted faster recognition of the displayed emotion as well as a tendency to misidentify joy as anger. Our findings suggest that one way through which people high in nPower are socially influential is their enhanced sensitivity to emotional signals in their social environment.PubDate: 2015-03-10